Lynnwood mayor's actions may have pressured witnesses, investigation says

LYNNWOOD -- Mayor Don Gough attempted to interfere with an investigation into his treatment of city employees, allegedly using his job in ways that may have pressured and intimidated potential witnesses, a newly released report suggests.

The conduct was severe enough that investigators with the Seabold Group devoted an entire section of their report to Gough's alleged behavior.

"Several incidents came to the attention of the investigator during the investigation that called into question the mayor's credibility," the report said. "These incidents raised concerns for the investigator to say the very least. In Seabold Group's collective experience, if employees accused of wrongdoing had engaged in the same or similar behavior as Mayor Gough did in this investigation, there likely would have been serious disciplinary consequences."

Gough did not return phone calls Thursday, and no one answered the door of his home. He said earlier this week that he had not read the report even though it had been e-mailed to him. He said he would only read it when his lawyer was available to read it with him.

The council ordered the investigation earlier this year after Gough's former top assistant, Stephanie Simpson, alleged harassment and discrimination based on her gender. She was given $49,500 in severance pay and three months' benefits and agreed to leave her job and not sue the city.

The report largely supports Simpson's contentions that she was treated poorly by Gough. It stops short of finding that the mayor did so because of her gender.

"The evidence is inconclusive regarding whether Mayor Gough harbors an actual gender bias that influences his interactions with women," the report said. "There was substantial evidence that Mayor Gough engages in perceived bad behavior with both men and women. With some exception, for every example of alleged bad behavior toward a woman, there was another example of equally bad behavior toward a man."

For example, Gough was said to have referred to Simpson as "queen bee," another woman as "ice queen." He acknowledged that he has nicknames for many of his staff, not all of them flattering. He called the former finance director "Mr. Death and Destruction."

Gough repeatedly was told not to discuss the investigation with city staff who may be witnesses. Instead, he appeared to have deliberately engaged them in his own investigation, at one point even driving to the home of a potential witness, the report said.

The mayor's attorney later sent a letter to the city attorney saying that the mayor was simply contacting the individual about city business.

Whether Gough intended to intimidate, he put city employees in difficult positions when he showed them documents, shared his recollections of events and engaged them in helping him prepare for his interviews with investigators, the report said.

"To the extent that a witness may have had a recollection inconsistent with or that outright contradicted the mayor's, it placed the witness in an extremely vulnerable position, and had the potential of tainting the reliability of those witnesses' previous and future statements in the investigation, as well as the mayor's statements," the report said.

The city released the report Thursday afternoon, six months after the probe began. The report's findings played a big role in the City Council's decision Monday to seek his resignation.

Among the more serious allegations are that Gough misled investigators about his familiarity with a document supporting his version of contested events. The mayor claimed he knew nothing about the document when questioned by investigators, but evidence suggests he had long before ordered its creation, shared a copy with a witness and directed that it be routed through the city attorney's office so that it could be treated as a confidential record, the report said.

The report had been kept secret for 10 days to give the mayor a chance to ask a court to block its release.

The City Council voted 6-1 this week to call for Gough to step down based on the investigation's findings. Although they don't have the authority to force the mayor out of office, council members voted to require sweeping changes to the city's employment policies and practices to require virtually all hiring, promotion or disciplinary action under Gough's control to be submitted for review and confirmation by the council.

City Councilwoman Kerri Lonergan said the council has the responsibility to make sure that Gough doesn't retaliate against any of the city employees who were interviewed in the investigation.

"The mayor is, in essence, the CEO," Lonergan said. "But what we can do, legally, is in order to prevent him from taking retaliatory action against employees, we can review all of his hiring and firing decisions so that if he were to fire somebody, we can say, 'You can't do that without our consent."

Councilman Ted Hikel, the only council member who didn't vote for Gough's resignation, said the report didn't blame the mayor for every problem the city has. He went on to say that he didn't think the report showed evidence of harassment and intimidation.

Although investigators spoke with 37 witnesses, completing some 50 interviews, the findings largely focus on Gough's treatment of Simpson.

An administrative law judge in a ruling on unemployment benefits for Simpson wrote last week that evidence shows Gough treats some female employees inappropriately and with contempt. He said Gough "verbally attacks them and demeans them."

Five top-level female City Hall employees, in a letter to the City Council this week, said working under Gough has become intolerable. They said they've been subjected to a "hostile and harassment-based working environment." Deputy Police Chief Karen Manser, one of those women, said the report fell short of her expectations.

"I think that there is a lot more going on than the report indicates because the report is specifically focused on the issue with Stephanie Simpson and it really doesn't address all of the other issues that were brought up with the investigator," Manser said. "I thought it would be a little more expansive. As well, I think it's lacking some detail."

What the witnesses said

In all, 37 people, most of them Lynnwood city employees, were interviewed for an investigation into Mayor Don Gough and allegations that he discriminated against his former top assistant, Stephanie Simpson. The report said there was a striking consistency in how the majority of both men and women described their experiences with the mayor.
Below are some of the statements the report attributes to unnamed witnesses:

• Socially awkward and attempts at being friendly and engaged come across as forced and disingenuous;
  
• Communication style is rude and dismissive;
  
• Can be demeaning and condescending — tells women and men that they “don't understand” or that something is “above your pay grade”;
  
• Lectures staff and others as if they were children;
  
• Personalizes disagreements — resorts to name-calling (stupid, incompetent, idiots);
  
• Engages in behavior described as bullying;
  
• Uses his position of authority to intimidate;
  
• Doesn't like to be challenged or have his authority called into question.

Oscar Halpert: 425-339-3429; ohalpert@heraldnet.com.